To Fulfill All Righteousness

Matthew 3: Kingdom Trailblazer (5)

Pray Psalm 42.1-3.
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they continually say to me,
“Where I is your God?”

Sing Psalm 42.1-3.
(Nettleton: Come Thou Fount)
As the deer pants for fresh water let my soul, LORD, pant for You!
Let my soul thirst as it ought to for the Savior, ever true!
Tears by day have been my portion, tears by night have been my food,
While my foes add to my sorrow, saying, “Where now is your God?”

Read Matthew 3.1-17; meditate on verses 13-15.
How did Jesus understand baptism?

Prepare.
1. Why was John reluctant to baptize Jesus? 

2. Why did Jesus insist on it?

Meditate.
John right away recognized Jesus as the Lamb of God, come to take away the sins of the world (cf. Jn. 1.29-36). No wonder he hesitated to accept Him for baptism. Indeed, he seems almost astonished that Jesus would want to be baptized by him (v. 14). He thought Jesus should baptize him. But Jesus said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” What did He mean by that?

First, Jesus understood that He had come to earth “to fulfill all righteousness.” To do this, He would have to keep the Law of God in complete and exhaustive detail, because the Law of God is holy and righteous and good. Jesus was often accused of violating Jewish traditions. He was even accused of transgressing Roman law. But no one could ever make a case against Him where the Law of God was in question. God called His people to fulfill His Law, to be holy as He is holy, so that they might live as He intends (Lev. 18.1-5). But no one can keep the Law of God—except Jesus. The righteousness that He fulfilled is accounted to all who deny that they have any righteousness of their own with which to commend themselves to the heavenly Father, and who cling to Jesus’ righteousness for their hope and salvation (2 Cor. 5.21).

Second, when Israel came out of Egypt, they were “baptized through the sea”, as Paul explained (1 Cor. 10.1, 2). From this “baptism”, Israel plunged into the wilderness, before again being “baptized” as an entirely new generation through the Jordan to undertake the conquest of the land. Jesus, God’s Son called out of Egypt to recapitulate and fulfill the redemptive plan of God, was baptized in the Jordan before heading off into the wilderness to defeat and bind the one who held the nations captive to his lies (Matt. 4.1-11).

It was “necessary” for Jesus to be baptized by John, not because He had sin to repent of, but because He was the sin-bearer and salvation-bringer for all who repent and believe the Good News of His Kingdom. 

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“But seek first the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness…” (Matt. 6.33).

Jesus is Whom we seek.
His righteousness is what we aspire to;
His Kingdom is where we long to be and live.

Righteousness has always been the goal for God’s children;
it is what He longs for us to possess.
Without Jesus, we were not able to accomplish it;
but with Jesus’ Holy Spirit we are more able, than not, to do so.

When Joshua was leading the children of God into the Promised Land he said to the people:
“By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and 
that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and 
the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: 
Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth 
is crossing over before you into the Jordan” (Josh. 3.10, 11).

Jesus went into the Jordan to fulfill all righteousness;
just as the ark went into the Jordan as a sign that they could be victorious over their enemies.

The human peculiarities, the fears, the temptations, the sins, the foibles, the difficulties—our Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites—God will help us fight against through the power of His Spirit. To fulfill all the righteousness that He wants us to fulfill. Not for our salvation, but because of it.

Jesus fulfilled all the Law of God to the nth degree.
He covered every jot and tittle and wants us to do the same.

“For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, 
one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law 
till all is fulfilled” (Matt. 5.18).
“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds 
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, 
you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5.20).

He wouldn’t tell us to do so unless He knew it was possible.
Through His Holy Spirit, the Helper, the One Who leads, guides, and teaches.
“For with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk. 1.37).

The same God Who created Jesus in Mary’s womb; Who allowed Zacharias and Elizabeth, as two very senior citizens, to parent a child; Who gave the blind sight, and hearing to the deaf; Who fed thousands with a few pieces of bread and a couple bits of fish; Who cast out demons; Who thought water into wine; and Who raised Himself from the dead; is also able to assist us in keeping His Law and living for His honor and glory in His wondrous Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Righteousness is ever-present and never-ceasing.
Let us always joyfully fulfill our part in it.

Reflect.
1. How would you describe your part in the Kingdom of righteousness?

2. How does the Holy Spirit help you in your daily walk with and work for the Lord?

3. Whom will you encourage today to know the power and blessedness of the Spirit and the Kingdom?

When he who is perfect according to the law was baptized with the baptism of John, he became the first to achieve the perfection of the law. For this reason even Christ, who was perfect in the law, was baptized with the baptism of John. For this reason he says, “For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Theodore of Heraclea (d. 355), Fragment 21

Pray Psalm 42.4-11.
Jesus has fulfilled all righteousness for you! Let Him lift your soul into the joy of His salvation as you pray and sing of your Rock and your God!

Sing Psalm 42.4-11.
(Nettleton: Come Thou Fount)
Now I pour my soul out in me as these thoughts come to my mind.
And I long to once again be where true worship I might find.
Oh my soul, be not despairing!  Hope in God, and praise His Name!
For the LORD, your burden bearing, will restore your peace again.

Oh my God, my soul is weary, therefore I remember You.
Let Your grace and goodness near be, and Your promise, firm and true.
LORD, when trials and fears surround me, Your commands will be my song!
When distresses sore confound me, Your great love will keep me strong.

LORD, forget me not in mourning ’neath my foes’ oppressing hand.
See their mocking, hear their scorning; help my weary soul to stand.
Hope in God, praise Him forever when despair on you has trod.
Look to Jesus; never, never doubt your gracious, saving God.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

Other columns of interest: This week: The Read Moore podcast continues readings from If Men Will Pray. Our Crosfigell teaching letter begins a new series on the state of the Church in Europe at the time of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column concludes our series on “The Kingdom Economy” with a call to prove our salvation. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.